City Council and Planning Commission Joint Special Meeting

CHAIRMAN AND COMMISSIONERS: The meeting was called to order at 05:30 p.m. All present included Mayor Chris Hart, Councilmember Jenny Johnson, Councilmember Mike Scott, Commissioner Dave Robinson, Commissioner Doug Clifford, Commissioner Pam Gardiol, and Planning Commission Chairman Jeff Loris.

Staff Attending: Dale Coulam-City Manager/Attorney, Mike Haycock-Building and Zoning Administrator and Sharon Allen-Deputy City Recorder.
Audience Attending: Terry Marten, Dave and Suzy Appel, Sharon Barton, as well as others that did not sign in.

Mayor Hart called the meeting to order. The purpose of this meeting is to introduce and discuss the Ivins City Land Use Plan and also a review of the Ivins City General Plan and this may likely be a very comprehensive long-term review of perhaps the most important document we have in the City that defines the vision and prescribes what we need to contemplate within the City. The General Plan consists of six chapters and the work we do will likely focus only on two or three of those. Chapter 2 has to do with growth, thus land use and zoning, and will consume a good portion of our time as we begin this process. Chapter 3 describes the vision for the City and although our vision is a good one, there may be some refining to do there, and Chapter 5 is the elements of the General Plan. The Planning Commission will work through the land use portion of this and make recommendation to the City Council and likely be adopted Chapter by Chapter or section by section. The map lies before you. Going back a number of years to when this map was generated the City envisioned itself to retain a rural agricultural flavor and to incorporate some commercial development and provide for a variety of different housing types as described in the General Plan which requires Low Density Residential, Medium Density Residential and High Density Residential and includes Multi-Family and so forth. The balancing act is always how to make provisions for all those housing types to occur so all socioeconomic groups can have access to reside in Ivins and where to place these various land use bubbles and zones. Terry Marten was a major contributor during the last review of this and how the land use and eventual zoning plays to things like transportation, which is always a consideration and existing development. He recommends as we meet together to discuss what concerns we have with the existing land use plan, and what we envision of the land use plan and give this a thorough review. The last time we went through this, it took months. There will be public hearings and it is our intent to hold an open house type meeting. He opened the discussion to any members that would like to focus on points they want reviewed and perhaps changed. Councilmember Mike Scott stated one of the issues that was brought up with the Planning Commission while discussing this project was the disconnect between the land use plan and the zoning map with regard to RA-1 and RA-5. We are dealing with a complex topic that will take a while to solve. He wondered if we could break it up and take the low hanging fruit off the table immediately by just changing all the RA-1 and RA-5 zones to reflect the lowest densities. So if land use shows Low Density Residential make it the lowest density it is like RE-43 so that at least you have a matchup between the two. It is a quick clean sweep that gets the two maps in sync with each other. Councilmember Jenny Johnson stated that would be a negative in her opinion because then people are confused thinking that is going to be the zone. Councilmember Mike Scott stated good point. Dale Coulam stated perhaps eliminate RA-5 and allow RA-1 to acknowledge the agricultural portion. Mayor Hart stated there may be areas where the current land owner wishes to have that land remain in an agricultural zone and use. We have to take into account those who own property and what their vision for that has been. Some of our long-term residents have owned their property for decades. With that in consideration the assignment is to determine what the long-term vision is for the City. Often when farming families move or pass away that land then is put up for sale and takes on a residential use. He does like that idea and what the expectation of that land will be. We need to clarify what our actual intent is. Councilmember Jenny Johnson proposed that we do what Sue Gordhammer had mentioned that until we get it all figured out, we put a stamp that it is a holding zone so that when people come in they know it is a holding zone. That could be done immediately to eliminate confusion until we find out more details and what we are going to do to fix it. Mayor Hart stated land use usually goes first but if it is blatantly a problem we could recommend they act on that. Chairman Jeff Loris stated that we discussed putting in an asterisk and stipulate they are holding zones. Water is an issue in the area, the most prevalent piece of land being Terry Marten's, east of 750 West. It is shown as a park, but if it that land is going to be used as water it should reflect that and the impact that it has on our densities. Mayor Hart stated that the footprint of the reservoir should be illustrated on the map but maybe not designated as a park. It is not recreational but solely for water storage. The surrounding residents and owner are not anxious to have that turn into another Firelake Park. The City doesn't need another Firelake Park. We have that base covered. People would be allowed to access it, but it won't be convenient to get a kayak or canoe in there. There may be some fisherman and a rustic trail along one side of the perimeter of it for mountain bikes. Chairman Jeff Loris stated that most of the area in there is already stipulated as the dry wash area. Mayor Hart stated it could stay that way, and just put an overlay over it for the reservoir. Councilmember Jenny Johnson stated it could be stated as park because there are many kinds of parks. It could be labeled with fishing and hiking and biking, but not a boat park. Dale Coulam stated it could also be designated as open space as far as our vision. Once it is created and holds water it will show as a body of water, but for now designated and reserved as open space. Mayor Hart stated that we have been disadvantaged by this pretend zoning because state law requires when we do studies, to use our land use plan for projections of population and in all those areas where we show Low-Density then certain assumptions are made by the engineering firms that are doing the studies. Universally we end up with a different population number than might actually occur when the City is fully zoned. That doesn't mean we wipe out all the Low-Density. As a matter of fact, Kayenta residents and the developer prefer that it remains a Low-Density project. Our discussions need to be realistic to be helpful long-term for the City as we conduct these periodic studies on transportation, water, etc. Commissioner Dave Robinson stated what is the difference in RA-1 and RA-5 other than lot size? If we move it to one or the other, what is that difference of what they can do with that land? Dale Coulam stated agricultural versus an estate lot, which is strictly residential with no agricultural use. Commissioner Dave Robinson stated there are people that would like to do things with their land and don't have enough space to do them because of our restrictions. Dale Coulam stated lot sizes are really the difference there, but RE-37 or larger may allow for certain types of animals to be kept. It is not a commercial operation, but someone might raise chickens. You can have a garden. Agricultural is not prohibited, but it is restricted in the residential zones. Mayor Hart stated that fortunately a large portion of our City has been platted so we know what we are getting. How do we bring about these transitions? We have clusters of High-Density Multi-Family housing, Kayenta, and more traditional lots that tends to be near 600. We need to put this land use map together based on how likely development would occur, and whether they blend or not. Mike Haycock stated that Lance Anderson was of the mind that if it is a simple zone change then we have done the leg work already over the years by assigning densities here. If we take the densities and change the zone map to accommodate what is already on there, that is the easiest fix. Dale Coulam stated that it could just be a note on the map but it is regarding and changes the nature of what is expected of certain zoning districts. That should go through the Planning Commission with the opportunity for public input. Mayor Hart stated he thinks that it sounds like we are requesting that we reverse that problem early on before the general review of the land use plan. Mike Haycock stated that to communicate with contractors and developers, it would be nice to tell them exactly what they can do in their zone. Commissioner Dave Robinson stated that regarding additional annexations for the City and the Western Corridor coming in, there is a potential for more residential, but also retail commercial to help our tax base for the area. He would like to see what areas are being annexed in. Mayor Hart stated there is substantial property to the South of us. That could take place. Commissioner Dave Robinson stated it should be in the back of our minds what we are doing with that property if that's possible. Mayor Hart stated that with water a concern, expansion is not an urgency but a good idea to keep in mind. Commissioner Doug Clifford stated that we have heard a lot about water issues. What is the current situation with subdivisions that have been approved but have not gone through the permit stage and could be held up with water? Mayor Hart stated the expectation is that water is one of the essential services that the City provides and it would be available. There is a big change in motion at the Washington County Water Conservancy District regarding entitlement. Dale Coulam stated that there is some vesting that occurs at Preliminary Plan approval and the count we get from the Washington County Water Conservancy District is through Preliminary Plan. We can't arbitrarily say we won't pass a final plat as that could be a taking, but if the Washington County Water Conservancy District determines there are more lots than we can provide water to, that would be different. Mayor Hart stated that the District has a fixed capacity established by State Law. Every residential unit has to be attached to .89 acre feet of water. There is a movement to try and change that because we use less than that. The expectation is that it will drop down to .78 acre feet and increases the number of available units. Equivalent Residential Units or ERU is the paramount acronym to think about. If the District has a fixed number based on current capacity of ERUs, he expects that those will be distributed to the various municipalities and counties according to population. That would then allow each City to know what they can use within their City boundaries. There are approximately 750 platted lots in Ivins that are not built on yet. The District will provide a will-serve letter to developments that essentially guarantee water. If you don't have a will-serve letter we could be back to the old days that stamped plats to say the City does not guarantee water for this project. We are wholly dependent on the Conservancy District. Some of the bigger cities will argue that they deserve more than other cities. But the fair thing would be to give each City a number to work with and track the math. It will be up to the City Council and Planning Commission how to appropriate those lots. Commissioner Dave Robinson inquired does that take into account our secondary water system? Where are we with that? Mayor Hart stated that comes into account with the amount of available water. We are moving ahead with phase one of the plumbing for secondary irrigation to provide water to these developments that have plumbing within them that don't have secondary water. We will get to those developments first, where the meters just need to be installed and then you have irrigation. The purpose of the reservoir and another likely built at Graveyard Wash is for irrigation. It is to provide water for landscape use. As these reservoirs come online, the District's capacity then expands and increases the number of ERUs for each City. As we have watched development occur at the pace it is now, he fears that some Cities have already over-committed their water shares. He hopes that is not the case but we are working to obtain those numbers so they know that they have at least .89 acre feet. Commissioner Dave Robinson stated so we are moving forward with our secondary system? Mayor Hart stated yes and we are served by a pipeline that comes to us from Quail Creek for culinary water, and that pipe has a capacity that is just a few years away from reaching that capacity. Our plan is to replace culinary water with secondary water. The big push for the reservoir is that we don't have sufficient storage on the west side of the County to provide that, and we have considerable additional capacity to produce reuse water at the treatment plant. We could add several reservoirs and fill them in the winter and use them in the summer. Our City Engineer, Chuck Gillette has a map that shows what the anticipated phases of that secondary water system are. Commissioner Doug Clifford stated that he has not seen a diagram or water ratio we use for agricultural versus residential. We have quite a few fields that are raising crops still. Mayor Hart stated the ag conversion is a variable that will expand as agricultural land leaves that use and becomes residential. That water influences the number of available ERUs. That is true of any water source that hasn't been tapped into. The problem the District faces is we are wholly dependent on the Virgin River drainage. The Lake Powell pipedream is potentially way out there. We are diving deep into reuse, and conservation is a huge thing as well. Commissioner Doug Clifford stated most agricultural water that is used for alfalfa fields comes from underground? Mayor Hart stated no it comes from the reservoirs. Sandhollow, Gunlock and Ivins. They come from not necessarily a different source, but a different entitlement. The irrigation districts have most of the old water rights out there and they get the water first, so if agriculture does their part to conserve as well they can do a lot more with a lot less water. Chairman Jeff Loris stated that .89 is 800 gallons per day per house. .56 is 500 gallons per day per house. St George plans on 490 gallons per unit per day and they have had that number for at least 15 years. We are almost twice that allotment. Mayor Hart stated that it is actually the State that comes up with that number. If we do a good job of conservation and can demonstrate over two years worth of data to change or reduce that number they'll consider reducing that. There is a huge conservation movement with the District, and just generally. Essentially conservation is the easiest and cheapest water source if we just all use less of it. Commissioner Dave Robinson stated that we have additional wells that St George takes care of that are added into our culinary system. Mayor Hart stated St George recently built a treatment plant southeast of Gunlock and that is their well field. As Ivins City, we were born in 1931 and we have very few of our own water rights. The regional agreement that brought the Water Conservancy District into being is our only hope to sustain us and provide any growth. Development is affected by water, but it probably won't change what you are going to do because Washington County has always found a way to fix the problem. We just need to get serious about conservation and reuse. Not every square inch of the City is a problem. Most of the work is completed. Commissioner Dave Robinson stated it sounds like the suggestion is to deal more with the zoning map? He thinks we need to do modifications on the land use. Mayor Hart stated there are modifications that need to be done, but the immediate problem is more of a zoning problem rather than land use. Mike Haycock stated regarding the land use he would like to meet with the community and property owners at open houses and proposed we set dates for those two things. We need to give them notice of what we are doing. Mayor Hart stated that we are working on something that is going to very directly impact these owners that in some cases have possessed this land for generations. Dale Coulam stated that we normally notice property owners within 300 feet and we should break up the City as we do this by chunks. We don't have capacity to hold every property owner in the City. Mayor Hart stated we could do East, West and Middle and invite anyone that wants to come to any meeting to come. Commissioner Doug Clifford stated it is a good idea to break it up that way, but some of our areas are already done. We can take a marker and mark it out. Mayor Hart stated he would say about half is done. Page 8 of the General Plan shows Ivins' existing developed areas. That gives you at least an idea. Dale Coulam stated we may want to get some initial comments as to what the public's and owners' concerns are, but wait a bit because one of the issues as to why we are addressing the land use plan, is that is an element of the General Plan. He thinks we need to work on the visionary document before we can implement solid info on the land use map. Early meetings can be about concerns and get an idea on refining the General Plan, and then guide us that way to the Land Use Plan. Then do some open houses discussing what we have determined. Mayor Hart stated that Chapter 3 is a description of the vision for the City and should become almost memorized. We have the same concerns that were voiced back then. Circumstances and data changes so it is still a healthy review but the vision is the guiding principle. If we do that first, then everything else we do is consistent with that. Commissioner Pam Gardiol stated that one important thing is the dynamics of the City continue to change and new people coming to the community haven't seen the plan and giving them a voice helps them to have a larger context of where the community is going and how their area is being affected. Open houses are really important even if not a word changes. Mayor Hart stated when he came here in the late 90's there were 3-4,000 people here and it has doubled in just the short time he has been here, so there are a lot of new residents. Commissioner Doug Clifford stated that those are really important two-way meetings and he is betting a majority of the people have never seen the General Plan. It would be a valuable part of those meetings to do a tutorial on the General Plan and what it is. Residents just need the information and be able to ask simple questions and they should know the answers. Mayor Hart stated he did try to do that at the neighborhood meetings and they were fairly well attended but was still just a fraction of our residents. He plans to devote his newsletter to this effort. www.ivins.com is so simple to get to and click a button for the General Plan. Dale Coulam stated we will make it a button on the front page. Councilmember Mike Scott stated he likes focusing on the General Plan and getting up-front community input. In addition to that, getting into details of changing land use and zoning maps it may be too much. Maybe we should be dealing with just the parcels and ID numbers we are thinking of changing and send notices out within 300 feet of that. That may be a way to narrow things down. Jenny Johnson stated she would oppose that. The entire community should have input, not just those with property interests. Councilmember Mike Scott stated he doesn't disagree but we want to make absolutely sure that those people know it is happening. They may not be reading the newsletter or looking at the website. It is a second shot at getting their attention. This is a cohesive plan for the whole City. Mayor Hart stated it will be a discussion for the whole City on where the City would like to go. That involves everybody. Mike Haycock stated the intent was contacting owners for just those two zones but everyone would be noticed on the community meetings. He didn't want to involve the whole City just those two zones at first if those are his marching orders, but he is open to doing both at the same time. Mayor Hart stated if the focus early on is this problem with two mystical zones that is a very refined discussion and the public will have something to say about it. Mike Haycock stated he can put a schedule together and get with the Council. Mayor Hart stated for sure notify the specific property owners involved and we will publish it as a general invitation for the public. Mike Haycock stated he is not sure how many property owners we are talking about. He will look into it.

Mayor Chris Hart	AYE
Councilmember Jenny Johnson	AYE
Councilmember Mike Scott	AYE
Commissioner Dave Robinson	AYE
Commissioner Doug Clifford	AYE
Commissioner Pam Gardiol	AYE
Planning Commission Chairman Jeff Loris	AYE